In response to Ritchie et al. (1) regarding the first report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of findings from the National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) (2), we respectfully submit the following.

Our article (2) is an initial, preliminary report of data from the first few years of program implementation and data collection only. It describes the experience of 14,747 adults enrolled in year-long type 2 diabetes prevention programs from February 2012 through January 2016. As of July 2017, the National DPP had over 1,400 organizations, and those that had submitted data reported over 106,000 participants. These findings are intended to monitor program efficacy and inform future directions.

CDC began data collection for the National DPP in 2012. The program has experienced exponential growth over the past few years. To address this, CDC has used a multifaceted approach to expand program infrastructure, including the issuance of several cooperative agreements to expand reach to underserved areas and high-risk populations; collaborative work with key state and national partners; development of a new CDC-approved curriculum, website, and suite of resource materials; a national prediabetes awareness campaign; and enhanced technical assistance and training for program delivery organizations. We are also currently planning for a new customer service center and are anticipating expansion of the program as a result of Medicare coverage in January 2018.

CDC is also in the process of revising its Diabetes Prevention Recognition Program Standards and Operating Procedures (Standards), with the revision to be released in January 2018. The revision process occurs every 3 years and is based on new data and programmatic findings, scientific evidence around lifestyle change programs and diabetes prevention, and stakeholder feedback. The federal Office of Management and Budget’s Paperwork Reduction Act process is used to revise the Standards in order to allow for public comment on proposed content and measures. The proposed 2018 Standards were recently up for comment in the Federal Register (3), with comments due by 12 September 2017. The questions and comments submitted by the public through the Federal Register will be taken into account in finalizing the 2018 revision.

Article Information

Funding. The National DPP is funded by the CDC.

Duality of Interest. No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

Footnotes

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.